Go anywhere, eat anything, friend anyone

One of the most underrated lessons my parents taught me is how to eat anything. No one talks about learning that. We usually think tastes are tastes, and we can’t do anything about them.

It’s rude to imply that someone should.

Truth is, tastes are totally flexible. If you eat meat, you probably can’t imagine being a vegan. If you hate seafood, you probably can’t imagine living on tuna. If you’ve never tried carrot juice, it probably sounds gross.

But given enough experimentation and, more importantly, enough willingness, you can adapt. We’re pretty good at physically adapting.

What we’re not so good at is winning the mind game. We’re not good at giving strange things a legitimate try. I think that’s why so many people, in America at least, are picky with their foods. They don’t see any reason to explore.

Traveling, entering a foreign culture, meeting people with alternative points of view – this is what helps us grow. And one of the quickest ways to break into a foreign culture, to experience a new world, is by connecting through its cuisine.